Knitting machine



May 3, 1938. 1 H. LEEDHAM ET AL 2,116,358

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Aug. e,` 1936 4 Sheets-sheet 1 f5 ze@ y May 3, 1938.

` L'. H. LEEDHAM ET AL KNITTING MACHINE v4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 6, 1956 Z IN2/enfans; I if May 3, l1938.

L. H. LEEDHAM ET AL KNITTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 6. 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 @a wily Il Il' az u u 41 I v fam.'`

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May 3, 1938. l.. H. LEEDHAM ET AL l 2,116,358

KNITTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 6, 1936 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented` May 3,4 1938 y PATENT `oI-Flcs KNITTING MACHINE Leslie Herbert Leedham and Henry Harold Holmes, Leicester, England, assignors to Wildt and Company Limited, Leicester, England, a

British company Application August c, 1936, semi No. 94,666

m Great amaai .august i2, 1935 10 Claims. (Cl. 66-50) This invention consists in improvements in or relating to knitting machines and hasfor its object to provide an improved patterning means therefore whereby a novel patterning effect can be obtained including a raised or plush pile design. Hitherto in all plush pile design fabrics it has been customary to produce only a plain fabric upon which the plush pile design appears. By the present invention the plush pile design is enhanced by patterning of the unraised ground fabric.

The present invention has for itsrobject to produce a pattern in the ground fabric that is un-l raised fromthe surface thereof and also in addition a `raised or plush pile pattern and for this purpose comprises the combination of needle se-A axis of a circular knitting machine, showing those parts of the mechanism necessary for the understanding'of the present invention and is a. section `on the line i-l of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a planof the parts shown in the upper portion of Figure 1; y 35 i Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-f3 of Figure Figure 4` is a section on theline 4 4 of Figure l, the pattern drum having been omitted for the sake of clearness';

` 4'() Figures 5,-6, and 7 are respectively sections on the lines fi- 5, 6--6, and 'l--l of Figure 4;

Figure 8 is a diagram in plan showing the action of the sinkers in relation to one of the yarn feeders; 1 y 45 Figure 9 is an elevation looking from below in Figure 8, and

lFigures 10 and 11 are respectively sections onV` lthelines lil- I0 and Ii-Ii of Figure 8.

` Like referencelnumerals indicate like parts in 5 all the gures of the drawings.

In the example illustrated, the two patterning elements are in the form yof rotatable pattern V drums 2,0 andlZI but these may be obviously replaced by any other formof rotating selector preferred. Both drums in the illustrated example `Figure 1 is a section, in a plane containing the are of the type described in copending United Statesapplication Serial No. l7,681, now Patent No.'2,078',571, that is to say, each pattern drum has at its outer surface a number of tricks extending parallel with the axis ci the drum and'into these tricks bits such as 22 and 23 respectively, can be inserted having outwardly projecting butts such as 2t and 25 respectively arranged in any one or more of a plurality of differentheights. For each height of butt there is a selector cam.

` For the upper drum` 2li the selector cams are in the form shown. at 2t (Figure 2) and allthese cams are rotatably mounted on a spindle 2l mounted in ring 'i2 to be described later. Between the cams 2t and the bits 22 are interposed a plurality of cam followers 29, one associated with each cam 26', and these followers are pivotally mounted on a pivot t0 carried by bracket 28.

` Noses at opposite ends of each of the cam followers 29 extend across the gap as shown inFigure 2 between the bits and the cams so that as the pattern drum is rotated the bits will press inwardly 4and selectively those camsfor which a buttV is provided on a bit at the Vheight of the nose of *the corresponding follower it.

For the lower drum 2i selector cams 3i are provided pivotally mounted on pin it, and these cams operate for needle selection, in the manner to be described, without the intermediary of cam followers.

The needle cylinder 32 has needles 33 disposed in its tricks and held therein in known manner by spring bands 3d so as to'allow the needles to slide freely in the tricks. 1 Beneath each needle is an intermediate jack 35 and a main or selector jack 36, the lower end of each of which, as at 31, Will by its own natural resilience spring outwardly from the cylinder trick. For each jack36 there is a presser element 38 and these elements have outwardly projecting butts 39 situated at any one or more of va plurality of heights corresponding to the heights of selector cams 3i. Those lbutts where they are present will, as the drum 2| I revolves, selectively move corresponding cams 3i outwardly and these will engage with butts such as 39 to move the corresponding presser 38 inwardly thereby pressing the lower end 31 of jack 36 inwardly and out of the path of a needle-'raising cam 40. It will be obvious and well under stood by those skilled inthe art that by the choice of butts such as 25 in the several bits 23 and also by choice of butts such as 39 on the' presser elements 38 selection of needles can take place according to a predetermined pattern lay out, those their lower radially of the needle cylinder between a sinker bed plate 44 and a cover 45, but as these parts in themselves are well known they are more or less diagrammatically illustrated in the drawings;

'I'he cylinder cam`box is illustrated at 48 and comprises needle actuating cams indicated at 41 in Figure 1 and at 48 there is illustrated an element between which and jacks 36 there will be relative rotation about the axis of the cylinder, this member 48 serving, as described in copending United States application Ser. No. 90,660, to prevent the upper ends of jacks 36 from being tilted outwardly from their tricks as their lower ends are pressed inwardly by the action of cams As applied to a rotating cylinder machine patterning means may be applied to any one or more of the yarn feeds at which it is desired that patterning shall occur, and each such patterning means will preferably comprise a combined unit. That is to say, at the lower portion a unit will comprise a needle-selecting drum such as 2| and step by step, a vertically disposed spindle 50 is mounted in upper and lower bearings 5| and 52 provided in the structure of the unit, the upper bearing Il being afforded in a portion 'of a bracket i3 supported from a cam box carrier plate I4 and the `lower bearing being supporte on a base plate l! of the machine.

The bracket 53 serves also as the main support for the cam followers 20 and is held stationary with respect to the sinker ring. At thelower portion of the unit the selector cams are carried by a block I6 bolted to a ring 51 that is also stationary with respect to the needle cylinder.

It is to be understood, however, that the design of the supporting structure for the patterning mechanism may be of any other preferred form as of itself it does not constitute part'of the present invention.

The spindle l0 is a rocking spindle and has secured to its lower end (see Figure 3) a radial arm I8 to which one end of a racking'pawl Il is pivotallyconnecd at 4l.' The other end or nose of the pawl engages with the teeth provided on the drum 2|, for example with teeth oonstituted by the lowermost butts ll provided for this purpose on each of the bits 2l. Similarly,

lower butts li provided on each of the bits 22.

In addition there is secured to the lowermost extremity of spindle I0 the double arcuate `rocker arm 06 (Figures 1 and 3) the two extremities of whichareensagedaiternatelywitharacking cam I1 that rotates in company with, or in synchronism with the I'needle cylinder. For example, it is secured to the lower cylinder support ring il. As the racking cam passes the double rocker arm i6 it will first engage one extremity (the lowermost one in Figure f3) to move it outwardly and in so doing will provide a racking stroke for the pawl .63 of the sinker selecting drum, thus turning the latter through an angie equivalent `to one tooth space. During the traverse of cam 61 past the rock arm 86 that extremity irst engaged will be left free and the other extremity (the uppermost one in Figure 3) will then be contacted by cam B1 to turn spindle SII in the opposite direction, thus providing a rocking stroke for drum 2l, the latter being thereby rotated through an angular distance equivalent to onevtooth space. These movements are clearlyto be seen from a consideration of Figures 2 and 3, in which the direction of rotation of the cylinder, and also the cam 61, is shown by the arrow on the left-hand sides of those figures. During the working stroke of one pawl the other one makes an idle stroke and slides over a tooth of the patterndrum with which it is associated under the pull of tension springs il, both springs normally tending to hold the pawls in engagement with their respective teeth'.

The lay out of .the racking cam 61 relatively to the ends of the rock arm 66 is such as to ensure that a change-over in pattern both for that produced by the needle and for that produced by the sinkers, will occur in the same or substantially the same vertical line down the length of the fabric. As it is necessary that needle selection shall occur at a position spaced angularly from that at which sinker selection must take place, the angular distance between the two ends of the rock arm will belchosen accordingly so that as the cylinder rotates both the pattern changes occur approximately along the same vertical line or wale of the fabric.

For convenience, and as illustrated in the drawings, any one combined pattern unit serves to adjust the needles for one yarn feed, whereas the sinker-controlling portion of the unit will select sinkers which are actually operative with respect to an adjacent yarn feed.

Conveniently, two ends of yarn will be fed simultaneously to the needles and the plush pile will be produced by adjustment of the sinkers to a position which inserts a high part |42 of the sinker between the uppermost one of the two yarn ends. This is shown clearly in Figure 10. Consequently. relatively longer sinker loops will be drawn from the upper yarn and as the needles are actuated to draw the loops the extra lengths thus 4produced from the upper yarn will be left standing above the normal ground fabric surface knitted from the lower yarn. In Figures 10 and 11 upper and lower yarns are indicated by refer- .ence numerals 'Il and 1I respectively. Figure 11 indicates the position of adjustment of a sinker 43 when a plush pile sinker loop is not required andin this case both yarns will be drawn over a relatively low sinker surface 243. The lower `surface will be always utilized by the lower yarn Il and if a plush pile loop is to be formed the sinker' will be adjusted. by the action of the. pattern drum 2l, from the position of Figure 1l to that of Figure 10 and in this adjustment the high part of the sinker enters between the twoyarns so that the lower or ground yarn will be drawn over the low portion 242 of the sinker, and the plush pile yarn over the hllh Part' |48.

anaemia 1 a plush-pile loop. or alternatively it may be understood .as lshowing the position of any individual sinker'when the pattern drum 20 fails toselect'it. Figure 5 illustrates in fulland chain lines the passage of `a sinker Ainwardly during the selective action of the pattern drum 20 and rial No. 47,681.

Figure 7 shows the fully selective position,- the relative positions and movements of the intermediate slider 42 being clearly shown. y

The selector cams controlled from the p'attern drums may be so carried as to permit of anguiar adjustment about the axis of the machine.

In the illustrated example the cams 26 associated with the pattern drum 2 0 are shown as carried in this way by means of a ring 'I2 from which the spindle 2l depends. The spindle travels in an arcuate slot 13 inthe upper member 45 of the sinker ring and ring 'l2 may be Yarranged* for angular adjustment. n

This angular adjustment of the cams 26 permits of an accurate initial setting of these camsl ment of the cam followers 29 will fail to actuate l the cams. On the other hand, in the position illustrated in Figure 2 the cams are shown .as having been adjusted to a position at which the cam followers are fully operative on the cams. The

calms` 3l associated with the lower cylinder are not shown as being so adjustable although the lower bracket 56 may be circumferentially and radially adjustablev on the plate 5l if desired.

It will be understood and 'appreciated that racking and blufling control with means operated by the `bluff for reversing rotation of either Vor boththe pattern drums may be employed in a manner similar to that described and illustrated in the copending United States application, Se-

Itis to be understoodv that although the invention has been described in detail in connection With` pattern drums or wheels it is within the scope of the invention to employ other patterning means such, for example, as jacquard means or any other form of pattern control that may be found desirable or preferable in any particular case We claim:

1. In a knitting machine, comprising a needle bed and needles therein, the combination of needie-selecting patterning means comprising a rotatable patterning member operative selectively upon theneedles to produce patterns by stitch changes in 4selected areasA of the ground fabric, knitting elements to produce a plush pile, a rotatable patterning member operative selectively upon said plush pile-producing elements for the purpose ofl producing a plush pile pattern in other selected areas of' the ground fabric, and driving means common to both rotatable patterning members.

2. In a knitting machine, comprising a needle` by stitch changes in selected lareas of the ground fabric, knitting lelements to producea plush pile,

a rotatable patterning member operative selectively upon said plush pile-producing elements at another yarn feed for the. purpose of pro-` ducing a plush pile pattern in other selected areas of the ground fabric, and driving means common to both rotatable patterning members.

3: .Ina knitting machine, comprising a needle bed and needles therein, the combination of needie-selecting patterning means comprising a rotatable patterning member operative selectively upon the needles to produce patterns by stitch changes in selected areas of the ground fabric, knitting elements to produce a plush pile, a rotatable patterning lmember operative selectively upon said plush pile-producing elements for the purposexof producing a plush pile pattern in other selected areas of. theground fabric, and driving means Vcommon to both rotatable patterning membera-the said drive for the rotating patterning membersI comprising an operating spindle and paWl-and-ratchet mechanisms operated thereby for driving the individual rotatable' patterning members.

4. In a knitting machine, comprising a needle bed and needles therein, vthe combination of needles'selecting ypatterning means comprising a rotatable patterning member operative selectively upon the needles at one feed to produce patterns b ystitch changes ineselected areas of the ground fabric, knitting elements to produce a plush pile, a rotatable patterning member operative selectively upon said plush pile-producing elements at another yarn feed for the purpose ofproducing a plush pile pattern in other selected areas of the ground fabric, and driving means common to both rotatable patterning members, the said drive for the rotatable patterning members comprising an operating spindle and pawl-and-ratchet mechanisms thereby for driving the individual rotatable patterning members.

5. In a knitting machine, comprising a needle bed and needles therein and a needle cam carrier f between which and the bed there is relative movement for knitting purposes, the combination of nezdle-selecting patterning means comprising a rotatable patterning member operative selectively upon the needles to produce patterns by stitch changes in selected areas of the ground fabric, knitting elements to' produce a plush pile,

Operated a rotatable patterning member operative selectively upon said plush pile-producing elements anisms operated thereby to transmit the drive from the rocking spindle to the rotatable members. Y

6.v In a knitting machine, comprising a needle bed and needles therein and a needle cam carrier `between which'and the bed there is relative movement for knitting purposes, the combination of needle-selecting patterning'means comprising a rotatable patterning member operative selectively upon the needles at one feed to pro duce patterns by stitch changes in selected areas of the ground fabric, knitting elements to produce a plush pile, a rotatable patterning member operative selectively upon said plush pileproducing elements at another yarn feed for the purpose of producing a plush pile pattern in other selected areas of the ground fabric, and driving means common to both rotatable members and comprising a spindle operatively connecting the said rotatable members, a double armed rocking lever on said spindle, a cam relatively movable past the rocking lever in syn'chronism with the moving part of the knitting machine in order to engage and move the two arms of the double armed lever in succession in order to rock the spindle, and pawl-and-ratchet mechanisms operated thereby to transmit the drive from the rocking spindle to the rotatable members.

7. In a circular knitting machine, comprising a needle bed and needles-therein, the combination of needle-selecting patterning means comprising a rotatable patterning member operative selectively upon the needles to produce patterns by stitch changes in selected areas of the ground fabric, knitting elements to produce a plush pile,

a rotatable patterning member operative selecf tively upon said plush pile-producing elements for the purpose of producing a plush pile pattern in other selected areas of the ground fabric, and driving means common to both rotatable patterning members, the said rotatable needle and plush..y

comprising a rotatable patterning member operative selectively upon the needles at one feed to produce patterns by stitch changes in selected areas of the ground fabric, -knitting elements to produce a plush pile, a rotatable patterning member operative selectively upon said plush pileproducing elements at another yarn feed for the purpose of producing a plush pile pattern in other selected areas of the ground fabric, and driving means common to both rotatable patterning members comprising a vertically disposed spindle interconnecting a rotatable plush pilepatterning member above a rotatable needleselecting patterning member.

9. In a knitting machine, needle-selecting patterning means and sinker-selecting patterning means, both comprising intermittently rotatable patterning elements, and driving means common to both patterning elements, said driving means comprising an operating spindle and pawl-andratchet mechanisms operated thereby and operatively connected to the individual rotatable patterning elements. y

10. In a knitting machine comprising a plurality of yarn feeds, the combination of a rotating patterning element for needle selection at one yarn feed, a rotating patterning element for sinker selection associated with an adjacentI yarn feed, and driving means common to both said rotating patterning elements, said driving means comprising an operating spindle and pawl-andratchet mechanisms operated thereby and operatively connected to individual rotating patterning elements.

LESLIE HERBERT LEEDHAM. HENRY HAROLD HOLMES. 

